


Regardless Of My Adolescent Delusions, I Want To Be The Very Best! (That No One Ever Was)

by jashin_senpai



Category: Lego Ninjago, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Pokemon, Gen, alternatively titled "Lotti Overthinks the Pokeverse", some kind of hideous mash of anime and game canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 22:38:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8686021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jashin_senpai/pseuds/jashin_senpai
Summary: Kai wants to be champion. Jay has no idea what he wants to do with his life. Cole doesn't think he's good enough. Zane is hiding something. Lloyd is in trouble. And Nya might just surprise them all.Ninjago Pokemon AU





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”   
> ― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

Kai leaves home on his tenth birthday exactly. He goes determined to follow in the footsteps of their small town’s most famous resident, the current champion of the Indigo League.

When Professor Elm offers to give him a Pokémon to start his journey, he immediately requests a Cyndaquil – the same Pokémon Gold began his own journey with. The fact that his natural affinity is for fire types is just a bonus.

His little sister waves and yells encouragement at the top of her voice as he starts down route 29 on his own for the first time, Hono trailing calmly behind him.

 _Gold took two years to become champion_ , he thinks. He’ll do it in one.

~

By the time he defeats the leader of the Goldenrod City Gym and wins his third badge, his eleventh birthday has already passed.

The trouble with trying to surpass someone like Gold, and Red and Green before him, is that they were uncommon prodigies. Most people take years and years to complete the League challenge.

Kai has grudgingly accepted that he is not one of those prodigies. It took him over four months just to defeat Falkner’s apprentice trainer – some asshole named Morro – to be granted the privilege of fighting Falkner himself. He doesn’t win often enough to make a living from battling yet either – although his success rate has definitely improved since he started out – which means that every so often, he has to take a break from travelling in order to work and save up.

He’s feeling pretty fed up by the time he finally manages to beat Whitney, if he’s being honest. His sister had left on her own journey two months ago with an Eevee in tow, and she’s already well on her way to earning her Zephyr badge, judging from her letters.

 _Watch out, nii-san!_ , she had written last time, _someday I might catch up to you!_

It’s not that he’s jealous, of course, he doesn’t begrudge his little sister’s success. But it’s still kind of _grating_.

Looking over his winnings from his battle with Whitney and the funds he’d managed to save from working part-time at the bike store in Goldenrod while he was training for their match, he decides he has enough to last him till he reaches the next town and then some. He’ll stay one more night here then, and leave for Ecruteak in the morning.

Not feeling particularly up to cooking, he heads over to a semi-regular haunt of his – Mr Chen’s Noodle House, a small eatery a couple of blocks from his temporary apartment. Hono is still resting inside his Pokéball, but Hotdog – his Growlithe – is eager to stretch his legs and strides proudly beside him as he enters the restaurant.

He’s glad to see Skylor on shift tonight – the waitress has a soft spot for him, and often slips him free fruit juice or a slice of pie, and chats with him when the restaurant’s quiet. He doesn’t want to leave Goldenrod without saying goodbye to her, at least.

She flashes him a smile when she sees him, and comes over as soon as she’s done taking the order of some kid in a blue hoodie and his Pikachu.

“Hey there, champ” she says, bending down slightly to scratch Hotdog behind his ears, and then indicating the new badge pinned on his jacket, “I see you finally beat Whitney. Well done!”

“Thanks” he says, smiling for the first time all day.

“Does that mean you’ll be leaving us soon?” she asks.

“Yeah, I was planning to head to Ecruteak tomorrow morning actually.”

“Good of you to stop by tonight then!”

“Aw come on, you really think I would leave without saying goodbye?” he asks, mock-seriously.

“I wouldn’t put it past you” she laughs. “You want your usual then?”

“Please, yeah.”

When Skylor leaves to go run his order, the kid in the hoodie comes over to his table and sits himself down opposite him. Kai stares at him, kind of bemused.

“Can I help you?” he asks.

“Yeah, so I like, couldn’t help overhearing” the kid replies, “that you’re planning to leave Goldenrod tomorrow morning.”

His accent is Kanto, which intrigues Kai somewhat. Travel restrictions between Kanto and Johto have been relaxed a lot by now, over half a century post-war, but kids generally choose to travel their own regions first, and this guy doesn’t look any older than Kai. Unless he’s one of those annoying prodigy types.

“Yeah, what’s it to you?” he replies.

“Ok so, this is pretty much my first time travelling away from home on my own, right? And I’ve been looking all day for somewhere to stay while I’m here and _everywhere_ is full up. Something about a Pokéathlon event in two weeks?”

“Yeah, trainers have been arriving from all over for that” Skylor says, depositing a bowl of ramen in front of the kid, seemingly unphased by his alteration in seating. “You probably should’ve sorted your accommodation in advance.”

“I didn’t _know_ , seriously” he replies, fishing a piece of pork from his bowl and offering it to the Pikachu in his lap. The Pikachu in question has bright blue eyes, which Kai is pretty sure is not typical colouring. Skylor shrugs, and heads back to the kitchen.

“Pretty bad timing, man” he offers.

“I figured. So I the thing is, I was wondering, if you’re leaving tomorrow morning, is there any chance you could talk your landlord into letting me rent your place after you leave?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess so. She’d probably be ok with it.”

“Oh, phew. You’re a real lifesaver, dude!” the kid exclaims. “My name’s Jay, by the way. Jay Walker.”

“Kai Smith” he replies. A sudden thought occurs to him. “Hey uh, Jay, if I’m supposed to hand my apartment over to you tomorrow morning, where were you planning to stay tonight?”

Jay looks comically horrified. “Oh no!” he wails, “I didn’t think about that!”

Kai sighs. Maybe this is a bad idea, but the kid seems harmless enough. “If you promise you aren’t a serial killer, you can crash with me tonight” he says.

“Oh man, can I? You are the best, seriously! And I promise I’m not, um, a serial killer” he laughs nervously.

“Whoah, I think I chose the wrong moment to re-enter this conversation” Skylor says, arriving with Kai’s order. She passes Kai a bowl of Mr Chen’s spiciest noodles, along with the mixed Poképlatter.

Kai sets the second dish next to Hotdog, and calls Hono out from his Pokéball so he can eat as well.

“Oh _wow_ , you have a Quilava? Aren’t they super rare?” Jay asks.

“Professor in my home town breeds ‘em” Kai replies around a mouthful of noodles, and at Jay’s questioning look, adds “New Bark Town.”

“Ah, right. Cool. I’m from Fuchsia City.”

“What brings you all the way out here? Especially if this is your first time travelling.”

“My parents started a Pokémon Day Care in Fuchsia a few years back, but the business has been struggling a bit. They asked me to check out how the one south of Goldenrod is run.” He pauses to feed his Pikachu a few more slices of pork. “Not even proper travelling yet, really. They drove me up to Saffron, and I took the maglev here.”

“Nice of you to help your folks out.”

“I’d feel bad if I didn’t, y’know?”

“Yeah, I totally get it. My parents run the Pokémart back home, and my sister and I’ve been helping around that place since we were born, practically. You planning to keep travelling after you see the Day Care?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. I guess so? I don’t really have much of a plan for my life right now. You’re doing the League challenge, right?”

“Yeah. Been at it for a year or so now.”

“And you already have three badges? That’s pretty decent going!”

“Thanks.” He’s surprised to find he means it.

~

By the time they’d finished up at Mr Chen’s and made their way to Kai’s apartment, Kai had learned that Jay was an only child, his Pikachu was named Blue, that his unusual eye colouring was because he was descended from some famous psychic Pikachu who predicted tidal waves or something, and that Blue and Jay both loved surfing, which was kind of bizarre for someone with an electric type affinity, and also probably explained why Jay was covered in freckles.

He makes up the spare futon for Jay in the living room. None of the furniture is his, of course, it all came with the apartment, which is the kind of small, nondescript place you can find in pretty much every city and town in the region to cater to travellers. His current neighbours include a pair of grad students who came to Goldenrod University for a semester in order to conduct research in the National Park, and a backpacker from Sinnoh who’d failed her first League challenge and wanted to try again in a smaller region.

“Hey, thanks again for letting me stay here tonight” Jay says as he settles down for the night. Blue is already asleep, curled up on the pillow.

“No problem” Kai replies.

The problem arises the next morning, when Kai wakes up and finds Hono is still exhausted and sluggish from yesterday’s battle, Hotdog curled beside him and wuffing sympathetically. Whitney’s stupid Miltank had really done a number on him. He’s clearly in no fit state to travel, and Kai is wondering if he should take him to the Pokécenter for a check-up.

Ordinarily, staying another few days wouldn’t really be an issue, but he was supposed to be vacating the apartment this morning for Jay.

“Of course you can stay! Should stay. Heck, if anything you should be kicking me out!” is what Jay says, when he hears Kai’s departure will be delayed.

“Nah dude, I already promised you could stay here, I won’t go back on that. I’m sorry about all this, but I’m fine with sharing the place, if you are?”

“Yeah, totally fine. Seriously, it’s not even a problem. I’ll pay the rent from today, once we talk to your landlord.”

“I couldn’t make you pay the entire rent for half an apartment! We’ll split it.”

Jay considers this. “Only if I get to buy you breakfast, then” he says. “I still owe you for last night. How about you take Hono to the Pokécenter, and then we can go eat.”

“It’s really not necessary” Kai replies, “but thanks. I appreciate it.”

He puts Hono back inside his Pokéball, and whistles for Hotdog to follow him.

At the Pokécenter, the Joy who checked Hono assures him that there’s nothing wrong with him aside from fatigue, and that he should be fine to travel in a few days or so. She gives him a supplement, and bows them out politely.

Jay meets him outside, and they eat breakfast at a small café on the east side of the city, before heading back to the apartment complex to notify the landlord about their new living arrangements and to get a key for Jay.

Over the next week, the two of them become fast friends. Jay spends every morning at the Day Care discussing the business with the old couple who run the place, and volunteering to help with the Pokémon, while Kai picks up the odd shift at the bike store and trains with Hotdog. They spend the afternoons hanging out at the arcade or exploring the National Park together, and occasionally with Skylor when she’s free. Most evenings they’re down at Mr Chen’s, until all the customers have left and it’s just the three of them, Jay and Kai helping Skylor clean up for the night and laughing so loudly they’re sure they’ll get a Jenny knocking on the door any day now with noise complaints.

When the week is up, Kai takes Hono back to the Pokécenter to confirm he’ll be fine for travelling, and Jay writes a very long and detailed letter to his parents about what he learned from the Goldenrod Day Care centre.

“What are you planning to do now?” Kai asks him, once he’s sent the letter.

“I still have no idea, dude” Jay replies.

Kai gives him a considering look. “How do you feel about a trip to Ecruteak City?” he asks.

***

When Cole is thirteen, he is officially granted the position of apprentice trainer to his cousin Brock, the leader of the Pewter City Gym.

He’s been training under Brock (and his father, and grandfather) for years and years already, of course. This position isn’t about training, it’s about officially recognising Cole as Brock’s successor. There have been discussions recently about Brock taking over Bruno’s spot in the Elite Four, should he choose to retire in the next few years. If he does, Cole will be expected to take charge of the Pewter Gym.

There are two problems with this.

The first is that Cole doesn’t particularly like the Gym, and the endless training that comes with it. He much prefers hanging around the museum and helping the fossil research team with their work, or hanging around Mrs Suzuki’s bakery, where she sometimes lets him decorate the cakes, or hiking on Mt Moon.

The second, which is also partially the cause of the first problem, is that he’s not so sure he’s actually a good trainer. Certainly, he doesn’t think he’s good enough to fill his cousin’s shoes. Guratsukanai – the Onix he’s been training with since childhood – always obeys his instructions, but they don’t mesh well. They don’t seem to have the kind of connection good trainers are supposed to have with their Pokémon, which makes them slow and vulnerable in battle.

Cole was actually terrified of Guratsukanai when he first started training, but he was a present from his father, so he never said anything about it. He suspects that Guratsukanai was able to sense his fear anyway, and that it ruined any chance of them ever having a connection.

~

His temporary salvation comes in the form of a phone call from an old friend of his grandfather’s – a Professor Julien.

His father regards him sternly. “Professor Julien’s son has recently expressed a desire to travel. He is looking for someone familiar with the Kanto region to accompany him. Your grandfather suggested you might be an ideal choice, _however_ ” – and here Cole’s heart plummets – “I have my reservations. You are still much too far behind with your training.”

Cole nods miserably. “I know” he replies, “but father-”

“I say let him go” Brock interjects, to Cole’s immense surprise. “Travel builds character, and tests the strength of a trainer in ways merely training never can. It might be exactly what he needs.”

His father contemplates this. “I will defer to you on this, Brock. You are his teacher, after all.” He turns to Cole and says “Very well. Cole, I expect you to take this task very seriously. Ensure that Professor Julien’s son is satisfied with your companionship. And do not let your training slip while you are away.”

An opportunity to escape the confines of the Pewter Gym for an extended period of time? He’ll be the best darn companion Professor Julien’s son could ever hope for.

~

A week later, he’s at the port in Vermillion City, waiting for the ferry from Floe Island to arrive.

He’s not exactly sure what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t _this_. For one thing, he’d thought Julien’s son was much older, considering the age of the Professor, but the guy in front of him doesn’t look much older than Cole himself.

And then there’s the issue of the _giant freaking Mamoswine_ standing behind the kid.

“Uh, are you Zane? Professor Julien’s son?” he asks.

“I am indeed” he replies serenely. “You must be Cole. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ah, likewise, yeah.” He hesitates, not wanting to offend the guy within the first ten minutes. “So, not to be rude or anything Zane, but it’s sort of… frowned upon here to have such large Pokémon out of their Pokéballs in the city.”

“Oh! My apologies. Floe Island Town is much smaller than any town in Kanto, so I confess the thought had not crossed my mind. I will rectify it immediately” he says, pulling a Pokéball from his belt. “Mamont” he calls, “return.” The Mamoswine disappears with a flash of red light.

“Mamont?” Cole asks, without thinking. “That’s not a Japanese name, is it?” Oh man, he cannot keep his foot out of his mouth today. He must be making a terrible first impression.

Zane merely smiles and says “It is not. It is an old Russian word, which was once used to describe the bones of the prehistoric ancestors of these Pokémon. My father was originally from Russia, and still speaks the language at home, therefore it was natural that the name of my first Pokémon would be in my mother tongue.”

“I see” Cole replies. His head is reeling slightly – he has never met Professor Julien in person, but he’s a little shocked to find one of his grandfather’s closest friends was a foreigner. He supposes it does explain Zane’s abnormally light colouring, despite the fact that he must be at least half-Japanese, as Cole knows his mother is native to the Sevii Islands and is in fact Lorelai’s – of Elite Four fame – older sister.

He asks Zane what he would like to see first in Kanto, and his immediate reply is that he would like to visit Lavender Town to meet Fuji-san. Cole has to suppress an inward groan when he hears this – Lavender Town creeps him out profusely.

“It should only take a few days on foot if we take the coastal route” is all he says in reply.

~

They make excellent time, mostly because Zane is much fitter than Cole expected, and reach Lavender Town in the late afternoon of their second day of walking.

Cole can see the ghost Pokémon gathering in the shadows as the sun begins to set. As he passes them, they immediately begin to swarm around him, making him shiver.

This is why he hates Lavender Town. Most people can’t see ghost Pokémon unless they choose to make themselves visible, but Cole has always been able to see them all the time, and they’re weirdly attracted to him.

Ghost Pokémon aren’t really ‘ghosts’ in the traditional sense of ‘spirits of the deceased’, but they are attracted to death and dark energy, which is why they have such a negative stigma attached to them. Rumour has it that the residents of Lavender Town approved the construction of the Kanto Radio Tower on the site of the old Pokémon Tower because they were uncomfortable with the way it drew ghost Pokémon to the town, but if anything the removal of Pokémon Tower has only increased the population of ghost Pokémon due to the disturbance of the graves.

As they make their way to Fuji-san’s residence, they come across a group of young trainers who appear to have ambushed a schoolkid and are in the process of rummaging through his bag. To his credit, the kid is putting up a pretty decent struggle, but one of the trainers already has him pinned with an Ekans and Cole is worried that he’s going to get bitten if he keeps it up.

“Hey! You there!” Zane calls. “Leave that boy alone!”

“What are you gonna do about it?” one of the girls – apparently the ringleader – sneers, flicking her bright green hair back and motioning her Weepinbell forward.

In answer, Cole and Zane both pull out their Pokéballs.

“Go Mamont! Use powder snow!”

“Guratsukanai! Iron tail!”

Guratsukanai sweeps toward the red-haired trainer with the Ekans. He’s just a fraction too slow, allowing them to dodge the attack, but they let go of the schoolkid in the process at least.

Mamont’s powder snow has meanwhile neatly incapacitated the rest of their adversaries’ Pokémon, including the green-haired girl’s Weepinbell.

“Tox, maybe we should retreat” the red-haired trainer calls nervously.

“Shut up, Bytar” she hisses back. “I know what I’m doing.”

“I agree with Bytar” a girl with purple hair says, cradling her dazed Ditto. “Pythor’s gonna be real mad if we get caught.”

Tox clicks her tongue in annoyance. “ _Fine_ , Chamille, we’ll retreat.” She grabs her bike and speeds off, leaving the rest of them to follow suit.

Cole picks up the schoolkid’s discarded bag and hands it back to him.

“You alright?” he asks.

“I’m okay!” he chirps. He’s astonishingly cheerful for someone who essentially just got mugged. “Wow, you two took those guys out so fast! You must be suuuuuper strong!”

“It is merely the result of my training. My Pokémon is the one who truly deserves credit here” Zane says modestly.

“What’s your name, kid? Do you live somewhere around here?” Cole asks him.

“I’m Nelson, and I’m staying with my great-grandfather at the moment. Do you know him? He’s pretty famous. His name is Fuji-san.”

Cole and Zane exchange amused looks.

“Well then Nelson, how about we walk you back to his house?” Cole says.

~

Fuji-san is, of course, exceptionally grateful when he hears how the two of them helped his great-grandson, and is even more delighted to hear Zane is Professor Julian’s son. He insists that the two of them stay for the night, and requests his household staff to prepare two guest rooms and a lavish meal for the three of them.

Cole finds himself wondering who Professor Julian is, to have such prestigious contacts in Kanto. Fuji-san is considered a national hero, and his own family is notoriously old guard. Cole’s grandfather is one of the most powerful men in the region, given he is the head of the family who has ruled one of the oldest and most resource-rich areas for centuries.

The reminder of the family legacy he is expected to live up to only serves to frustrate him. He remembers how that trainer earlier had been able to dodge Guratsukanai’s iron tail. How is he supposed to take over the Pewter Gym if he can’t even take out some young punk?

“-call themselves the Serpentine. They’re mostly based in Celadon City, but it seems they have been trying to expand their influence lately” Fuji-san is saying. “Again, you have my deepest gratitude for helping young Nelson escape them.”

Zane must have noticed how hard he’s clenching his fork, because he says “I sense you are frustrated about something, Cole.”

“It’s no big deal” he replies, releasing his death grip on the cutlery.

“A trouble shared is a trouble halved” Fuji-san offers.

Cole sighs. “It’s just that… Guratsukanai and I have been training together for a long time, but our connection isn’t nearly as strong as it should be. It reflects badly on me as a trainer.”

Zane and Fuji-san contemplate this.

“Perhaps Guratsukanai does not suit your natural type affinity” Zane suggests. “Have you ever tried working with a Pokémon that was not a rock type?”

Cole sputters. “Of course not! My entire family has had rock type affinities for generations!”

“Affinities don’t always work that way” Fuji-san says, not unsympathetically. “While they do tend to run in families, there is no way to ensure a child will inherit a particular affinity.”

“You could even have a dual-type affinity” Zane adds, “like me. I inherited my ice affinity from my mother, and a steel-type affinity from my father.”

“You don’t understand” Cole says, starting to panic. “I’m supposed to take over the Pewter City Gym someday. If I don’t have a rock type affinity, what am I supposed to do?”

“Of course it is not unheard of for trainers to partner with Pokémon with a different type to the one they have an affinity for, although it takes far more effort” Fuji-san says. “Some talented trainers even use multiple unaffiliated types in order to counter various type advantages. From Nelson’s description of your battle earlier, and your grandfather’s accounts of you, I would suggest that you have a remarkable degree of control over Guratsukanai already, considering the situation.”

“It still won’t be good enough!” Cole snaps, and then flushes red. He cannot believe he just spoke like that in front of present company. He stands and bows stiffly to Fuji-san. “My sincerest apologies for my rudeness just now. That was uncalled for. May I please be excused?”

Fuji-san nods graciously, and Cole gratefully makes his escape, his face burning all the way down to his neck. He goes to sit outside on the large veranda, which overlooks a beautiful ornamental rock garden. It reminds him painfully of his own family home.

The sound of the screen door sliding open makes him turn his head, to see Zane step outside and sit next to him.

“I hope you will excuse my behaviour earlier” he says, not making eye contact. “It was unforgivable.”

“Not at all, Cole. I understand that this subject must be… difficult for you” Zane replies.

Cole makes a small noise, which might be taken for assent. There is a swarm of ghost Pokémon gathering around his feet. One brave Gastly flies right up into his face, and he bats it away irritably.

Zane gives him a concerned glance. “Are you alright?”

“It’s just these stupid ghost Pokémon. They always flock around me for some reason.”

“I see no ghost Pokémon” Zane says, looking confused.

“Yeah, most people can’t see them unless they want to be seen. But somehow I can see them regardless.”

“You know” Zane says slowly, like he’s trying to choose his words very carefully, “that could be a possible indication about where your true affinity lies. As could the swarming behaviour you described.”

“ _No_. Absolutely not” Cole says sharply. “I do not have an affinity for ghost types.”

“It’s quite a rare affinity” Zane says. His expression is carefully neutral.

“Yeah, and it has a billion negative stigmas attached to it. You know what they say about people who have ghost type affinities: they’re bad luck, their energy is sickly, they bring death. I won’t let that be me. I won’t.”

“Alright” Zane says, and Cole is grateful that he doesn’t push the conversation any further.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh warning for a non-graphic description of animal death in this chapter

Travelling with Jay turns out to be _so_ much more fun than travelling alone.

They rent a double room in a traditional guest house in Ecruteak, and spend a few days sightseeing. They visit the Bell Tower, the grounds of the Bellchime Trail covered with a beautiful carpet of fallen autumn leaves, and the melancholy burnt-out tower in the west of the city, and finally, the Dance Theatre, where Jay spends the good part of an afternoon sighing longingly over the Kimono Girls.

“I’ll never be able to introduce you to my sister at this rate” Kai says, laughing.

Kai gets part-time work shifting boxes at the local Pokémart, and Jay persuades him to take advantage of his position in order to get his hands on the latest Weekly Shonen Jump as soon as it hits the shelves. Kai always insists that Jay pay for it upfront though, because he certainly isn’t wasting his own money on that garbage.

 Jay somehow manages to get a job serving refreshments at the Dance Theatre, and Kai suspects it’s because the Kimono Girls find Jay’s company amusing. Jay claims it’s because they have all fallen madly in love with him, of course.

“I’m telling you” he says to Kai, “Kuni is head-over-heels for me. We’re going to elope.”

“Kuni is at least twice your age, Jay. _At least_.”

 “I don’t care. Naught shall get in the way of our love!” he proclaims melodramatically. Kai responds by throwing a pillow at him.

It takes about Kai about a month to defeat Morty, the leader of the Ecruteak Gym, and gain his fourth badge. He finds it more enjoyable than any of the other challenges so far – Morty is congenial and has a wicked sense of humour, which made battling fun even when Kai was losing.

After Ecruteak, they head out to the coast, and spend the nights between cities camping under the stars.

Jay comes across a herd of wild Mareep and immediately proclaims them to be the cutest things he’s ever seen in his entire life. He manages to catch one by luring it toward him with wild berries, and immediately snuggles contentedly into its wool.

“I’m gonna call him Fluffy!” he says. “Feel him Kai, he’s sooooo soft.”

Kai rolls his eyes, and stretches out a hand to feel Fluffy’s wool, only to immediately snatch it back with a yelp as he feels a sharp prick of static electricity.

“Whoops” Jay snickers, “I forgot not everyone is immune to that.”

They don’t end up spending much time in Olivine in the end – although they do see the lighthouse – because Kai manages to defeat Jasmine on his second attempt, much to his pleasant surprise. He’s even more pleasantly surprised when Hono evolves into a Typhlosion during the battle.

They make their way over to Cianwood next. Jay tried to convince him that they should swim there, crazy bastard that he was, but Kai – who turned pale at the mere thought of deep water – insisted on taking the ferry.

They rent a small hut right on the beach. It’s a little primitive, but Kai likes it. This far south, the climate is gloriously warm, even though it’s late autumn, heading into winter. He spends hours lying out in the sun on the sand, Hono and Hotdog stretched out contentedly beside him, while Jay goes surfing with Blue.

Some days, Jay paddles right out to explore the Whirl Islands. He offers to take Kai with him multiple times, but he honestly can’t stomach the idea of all that ocean. He spends those days training up on the cliff tops above the town.

One day he comes across an injured Vulpix up there, and brings her to the old man who runs the pharmacy, who manages to patch her up and splinter her leg.

“I’ve done all I can, but I’m not sure she’ll survive in the wild in her current condition” he warns Kai.

“That’s fine. I’ll take her on” he replies.

When he brings her home, Jay immediately suggests he should call her Naruto.

Kai looks at him with abject horror. “Absolutely not” he says. “Besides, she’s a girl.”

“Naruko?” Jay ventures hopefully.

“ _No_.”

In the end, he calls her Kitsune, Kit for short.

The two of them run errands for the pharmacy, and pick up a few shifts at the juice shack down by the beach. Jay quickly makes friends with the local surfer crowd, and they get frequent invitations for beach parties and bonfires and camping trips. Kai’s already golden tan deepens further, and Jay’s freckles thicken until they appear to be jostling each other for space.

An entire month goes by without him even considering how he’s going to defeat Chuck. He doesn’t even feel guilty about it, he’s been having such a good time.

~

He gets a letter one day from his sister informing him that she’s in Olivine City, and that she’s fairly sure she’s going to beat Jasmine soon, so could he please wait up for her in Cianwood. He challenges the first of Chuck’s apprentices that afternoon, so that he’ll have made _some_ progress at least by the time she gets to Cianwood.

Predictably, the first thing she does when she arrives is challenge him to a battle. He protests at first, citing the massive advantage her water type affinity grants her, but when he eventually relents, she kicks his ass so thoroughly he’s pretty certain she would have won regardless.

The thought might have irritated him once upon a time, but right now he’s just glad to have his little sister around, and immensely proud of her skills as a trainer. When he tells her as much, she shoves at him and tells him to stop being so sappy, and where was this buddy of his he talked about in his letters?

Jay chooses that moment to show up back at their beach hut.

“Kai!” he wails. “Kai, it’s awful! Fluffy, he, he _evolved_!”

Sure enough, trailing behind him is a confused-looking Flaaffy.

“He’s a very fetching shade of pink” Kai says, trying very hard to keep a straight face. “Exceedingly manly.”

“It’s not that!” Jay cries. “ _He’s lost half his wool_! He’s not cuddly anymore!”

Nya stares at him and bursts out laughing. “You sure know how to pick ‘em, nii-san” she says. Extending a hand to Jay, she adds “Hi, I’m Nya, Kai’s sister. You must be Jay.”

Jay’s cheeks redden slightly as he shakes her hand. “Um hi, yes, that’s me. Yes.”

She bends down to pat a bald patch on poor Fluffy’s head. “You know, he’s still pretty soft. Plenty good for cuddling, I think.”

Jay looks like he can’t believe his luck. “Would you like to find ou-”

“A _hem_ ” Kai says. “If you two don’t mind, I’m supposed to be battling Chuck tomorrow morning, so an early night would be appreciated.”

“Yes, nii-san” Nya says, rolling her eyes.

“Sorry, _nii-san_ ” Jay adds, and gets a sharp elbow to the ribs for his trouble.

The two of them are there to cheer him on the next day when he defeats Chuck and earns his sixth badge. Kai returns the favour when Nya does the same two weeks later.

They head back to Olivine a couple of days later. Kai’s sad to say goodbye to Cianwood, and while he’s excited to continue his journey, the thought of hiking all the way back up north to Ecruteak and then through the mountains in the middle of winter is kind of unappealing.

When he voices this to the others, Jay bites his lip ponderously.

“You guys are both aiming for the Indigo League Championship, right?”

“Yup” Kai says.

“Definitely” Nya adds.

“So you’d have to do the Kanto Challenge next anyway, right? What if we took the ferry to Vermillion City from Olivine, and you guys worked your way through Kanto while you waited for the weather in the north to clear up?”

“There’s no rule that says you have to finish one region first” Nya says. “It’s a good plan, actually. None of us have any experience hiking in snow – we’d probably just get stuck in Ecruteak waiting for the weather to clear if we went that way now.”

Once, Kai probably would have tried to hike to Mahogany Town in a blizzard out of sheer stubbornness, because he was so determined to follow in Gold’s footsteps exactly. But this is his own journey.

“Well you know how I hate the cold” he says. “Kanto, here we come!”

***

Cole had expected Zane’s visit with Fuji-san to last a few days at most, but two weeks later he’s still stuck in Lavender Town.

Fuji-san’s residence has a vast network of underground rooms, according to Nelson. “I’m not supposed to go down there, but I snuck in a couple of times anyway” he tells Cole.

“So what’s down there?” Cole asks.

“Weird stuff. Glass tubes. Wires. Loads and loads of computers. Most of them don’t even turn on.”

These underground rooms are apparently where Zane and Fuji-san keep disappearing to. Cole asked Zane several time what they were doing, and Zane only ever replied that it concerned his father’s research.

“I’d like to know more about it” Cole tries once. “Could I come with you one day?”

“I can assure you, it’s nothing that would interest you, Cole” Zane replied with an impeccably bland smile, and Cole couldn’t push the issue any further without seeming horrendously rude.

He spends his time volunteering at Fuji-san’s Pokémon rescue shelter instead. Remembering what Zane had said about Guratsukanai not being suited to his natural affinity, he tries bonding with the various Pokémon at the shelter to see if any of them felt better.

Grass doesn’t feel right, and neither does water. Flying is too unsteady, and electricity is awful, like needles prickling through his skin. He’s starting to think he’ll never find his real type affinity – that he’s some weird abnormality who doesn’t even have one.

To make things worse, there’s this Gastly who absolutely won’t leave him alone. It follows him everywhere he goes, bobbing happily at his feet. It hovers unsettlingly over his bed at night – even though he always keeps his doors and windows securely locked, it just phases right though the walls. Worst of all, it seems fond of licking his face in some kind of misplaced gesture of affection.

It seems particularly demonstrative this morning, tugging at his hair and the strings of his hoodie.

“Go away!” he snaps at it. A woman carrying a shopping basket gives him a startled look as she passes. The Gastly just cackles at him, and blows a loud raspberry in his direction.

When he gets to the Pokémon shelter, he immediately notices the new arrival. It’s a Meowth, tiny and bruised and shivering, and he feels drawn to her instantly.

He asks the receptionist about her, and she tells him that a hiker brought her in early this morning, after he found her in Rock Tunnel.

“We think she got crushed by a wild Graveler or something, poor thing. She hasn’t been responding well to treatment.”

“Is there anything I could do for her?” Cole asks.

“If you could get her to eat something, it would be a blessing” she answers. “She’s been unresponsive with all the other volunteers who’ve tried so far.”

The Meowth turns her head and lets out a tiny mew when he steps into her enclosure. His heart thuds. He’s never felt such a strong connection with any other Pokémon before. This must be it, his true affinity.

Slowly, he reaches out a hand and lets her sniff at it. She rubs the non-bruised side of her face gently against his outstretched palm.

“It’s going to be okay” he tells her softly. “We’re going to help you get better.”

He manages to feed her a few drops of the special formula the receptionist gave him – probably not enough, but swallowing seems painful for her. That’s okay. She’ll drink more later, when she’s healed up a bit, but this is a good start. Even Gastly is quiet for once, hovering protectively above them.

The Meowth curls close to him and closes her eyes. She’s stopped shivering.

She’s stopped breathing.

Cole nudges her gently. She doesn’t respond.

All the blood in Cole’s body turns to ice. “No” he mumbles. “You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.”

“Cole?” It’s the receptionist.

“She just. Stopped breathing” he says numbly. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, Cole. It’s not your fault. We suspected she had bad internal injuries – she was probably already on her way out by the time she got here.”

 _Already on her way out_.

He lets go of her limp body and stands.

“I’m sorry, I- I need a moment” he says, and she nods understandingly

“You helped her a lot, Cole. You gave her comfort in her final moments. I’m sure she appreciated it.”

He leaves the shelter and walks mechanically up one of the shorter mountain trails on the outskirts of the town. He can see Gastly following him out of the corner of his eye, darting behind the trees in an obvious attempt to be sneaky.

“Come here” he calls.

It doesn’t make eye contact as it hovers closer.

“Did you do this? Did you kill her?” He knows it’s not true the second the words leave his mouth.

The Gastly shakes its head frantically.

“… _not… kill._ ” The voice is weirdly distorted, and Cole realises it’s echoing inside his head.

“Is that- is that _you_ speaking?”

People with certain affinities, like psychic type, can hear their Pokémon speaking to them telepathically. There’s a rumour that this ability extends to ghost type affinities as well.

“ _… special trainer… can sense_ _things._ ”

“So you’re saying… that connection I felt with her…”

The Gastly nods.

“I don’t want this! I don’t want to be able to see ghost Pokémon everywhere, I don’t want sense when people are dying, I don’t-” and he’s hyperventilating so hard, he can’t continue.

The Gastly brushes over his cheek, whisper-soft.

“ _… gift._ ”

“How can you call this a _gift_?” he cries. “It’s a curse!” He turns back down the path toward the town.

“Don’t follow me” he says tightly, clenching his teeth. “Don’t come near me ever again.”

~

He doesn’t tell Zane about what happened at the shelter, or about the Gastly. Zane is obviously keeping secrets from Cole, after all.

He finds out about the Meowth anyway, when Fuji-san inquires about it that evening over dinner.

“Ayaka-chan was concerned about you, Cole” he says. “She says you took her death hard.”

“It’s just. She was very young. And I’ve never seen a Pokémon die before.”

“My scincere condolences” Zane says. “I was going to suggest leaving to continue our journey tomorrow, as I have completed my business with Fuji-san, but if you would like to stay for the burial, then of course-”

“No!” Cole exclaims. “I mean, uh, I’ve paid my respects. Leaving tomorrow is fine. Where would you like to go next?”

“There is a Pokémon Ninja School north of Fuchsia City. The current head of the school is another old acquaintance of my father’s, and I feel I should meet him as well.”

Cole is sure there’s more to it than that, but he’s glad for any excuse to leave Lavender Town as soon as possible, so he agrees.

***

After her sixth attempt to beat Lt. Surge is a complete failure, Nya contemplates giving up altogether.

She and Kai had challenged the Vermillion Gym at the same time, and Kai had already won his Thunder badge weeks ago. She’s _never_ taken this long to beat a Gym before, and the fact that her brother and his friend are her to witness her failing over and over makes it so much worse. She’s already dreading having to go home and let them know she still hasn’t won.

The three of them are renting a small harbourside apartment near the Pokécenter. It’s pretty nice, but it only has two bedrooms, which means Kai and Jay are stuck sharing a room. She had offered to share with her brother instead, but they insisted it was fine.

She lets herself into the apartment and sinks onto the couch, grabbing one of the cushions and burying her face into it to muffle her groan of frustration.

Jay pops his head out from his room. “Oh, hey Nya!” he says sunnily. “I’m gonna guess that things didn’t go too well at the Gym.”

“Nuh uh” she replies. “Is my brother around?”

“He’s still helping to shift cargo at the port. I just got back, like, two minutes ago myself.”

“Oh good. Then he won’t be around to see this.” She picks the cushion back up, plants her face in it, and lets out an impressive stream of cursing.

Jay chuckles. “Feel any better?” he asks when she’s done.

“Not really” she replies, sliding off the couch until she’s nearly on the floor, looking up at him. “Jay, what am I _doing_? I can’t beat this guy. I was stupid to even try. Maybe I should just go back home.”

“Whoah, hey, you can’t give up as soon as things get a little tough! You’re an amazing trainer Nya, but come on, did you really think challenging an electric-type Gym with a water affinity was going to be _easy_?”

“No” she says sulkily.

“Admit it, you totally thought you were going to be able to breeze through it like you always do. Have you even done any research?”

She squints at him. “Research?”

“Before your brother challenges a Gym, he always does a ton of research. What Pokémon the leader has, what kind of battling style they use, any weaknesses that could be exploited, etcetera.”

“And where am I supposed to find that kind of information?”

Jay shrugs. “Ask around. Other challengers, the local residents, that kind of thing. Leader like Lt. Surge, you’ll get people lining up to spill the beans. He’s not too popular around here.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“The locals don’t like the continued Unovan presence in Vermillion, so long after the war. And there’s the fact that when everyone adopted the League system, most of the cities in Kanto at least got to choose their representatives, whereas Surge was kind of foisted on these guys.”

“It’s just because Vermillion is a strategic base position, isn’t it? Besides, didn’t Surge officially retire from the Unovan army before he became Gym leader?”

Jay gives her a sad smile. “You have to remember, anti-Unovan sentiment runs a lot deeper out here. The Unovans purposefully limited destruction as much as possible in Johto, but huge areas of Kanto had to be entirely rebuilt.”

“I didn’t mean-” she starts, but Jay waves her off.

“Don’t worry about it. We were discussing your Gym challenge, weren’t we?”

“Uh, right. So I should find out what kind of weaknesses Surge has?”

“Start with the Pokémon. You’ve battled him before – what Pokémon does he use?”

“He only uses one. A high-level Raichu.”

“Good. And how does he usually battle?”

She takes a second to think about her matches with him. “He’s got a pretty offensive strategy. Goes all-out on the attack and doesn’t leave much for defence or traps, or anything like that. Of course my Pokémon can barely put a scratch on that Raichu, and if they get too close, they get zapped.”

“So how do you think you could beat him?”

She glares at Jay. “I don’t _know_. That’s the _point_.”

He shakes his head and tuts at her sarcastically. “You gotta think outside the box. Start with this – what’s usually an electric type Pokémon’s biggest strength?”

“I don’t know. Attack?”

“Nope. Our attack stats generally aren’t too shabby, but there’s plenty of types that have us beat in that department. We generally have to forgo accuracy to some degree to compete.”

“So what is it then? Speed?” she guesses.

“Bingo!” Jay says, giving her a dorky thumb-up pose. “Now I’ll tell you something about Lt. Surge. His Raichu is a prime example of why you shouldn’t always evolve your Pokémon as soon as possible. He’s plenty strong, but he evolved before he learned some of the more useful speed-boosting moves, and because of that, he’s not nearly as fast as he should be. Blue could outspeed him, easy. What’s more is, that Raichu is _ancient_ for a Pokémon. He’s about ready for retirement, much like old Surge himself.”

“So?”

“So what that means for you, Nya” Jay says, “is that you don’t have to be able to withstand his attacks. You just have to outspeed him and _dodge_ them.”

She considers this. Slowly, a wide grin breaks across her face.

 “Come with me” she says, standing up and grabbing Jay’s arm. “And bring Blue.”

~

Her seventh match against Surge is a resounding success.

In her previous matches, she’d been focused on trying to take him down with Poliwhirl – her strongest Pokémon, physically speaking, but also her slowest. This time around, she’d sent out Sui, her Vaporeon, first and let her slowly whittle down Raichu’s health while dodging his attacks. When Sui finally got taken down with a lucky thunderbolt, all it took was one last aqua jet from her Azumarill to finish Surge’s Raichu off.

She gives Jay a massive hug after she wins as a thank you, and is highly amused when his ears turn bright red. She is even more amused when her brother clears his throat pointedly in their direction.

The three of them go fishing down at the harbour afterwards, although Kai and Jay fail to catch a single Pokémon. Nya catches several Magikarp, but she keeps tossing them back in.

“Why not keep one?” Kai asks her. “You could evolve it and get a Gyarados. Gyarados are _baws_.”

Nya makes a face at him. “I don’t _want_ a Gyarados. Did you seriously just say _baws_ , nii-san? Really?”

She eventually manages to catch something other than a Magikarp – a tiny Horsea.

“Awww, he’s so sweet!” she exclaims. “I’m keeping him.”

“What will you call him?” Jay asks.

She thinks for a moment. “Bubbles” she decides.

“ _Laaaaaame_ ” Kai calls.

She narrows her eyes at him. “I will push you into the harbour, Kai. See if I don’t.”

He holds his hands up in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. You win” he says.

After they return the fishing rods to the old man who let them borrow them, they have an early dinner at a little seafood restaurant near the hotel, and discuss where they’re headed next.

“Celadon City?” Jay suggests. “It’s nice. You’ll like it,” he nods at Nya, “plenty of shopping. And Kai’s gonna love the Gym.”

“Lead the way, o marvellous Kanto tour guide” Kai says, raising his glass in a salute.

 ~

They take the coastal road north from Vermillion, because Jay says it’s more scenic than the inland route. The road takes them through Lavender Town, a picturesque little town nestled amongst the mountains.

Jay explains that Lavender Town is famous for being haunted, but Nya and Kai don’t sense anything creepy about it. It’s just a nice, peaceful little tourist town.

It gets a little colder when they turn inland, but it’s still much more temperate than Johto this time of year. Still, they have to huddle close to each other for warmth at night, even inside the tent.

Nya is rudely awoken one night by the sound of someone rustling through their bags.

“Mmmm, Kai? Jay? Izzat you? Quit makin’ so much noise.”

From the other side of the tent, Jay makes a muffled noise of protest. Kai is still snoring away between them.

Quickly, she flicks on the flashlight, and the beam falls on a small figure with blond hair.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing kid?” she calls.

“Zubat! Confuse ray!” the kid yells, but before his Zubat can do anything, it gets hit with a thunder wave from Blue and flops limply to the ground.

The kid tries to make a break for it then, but Kai, finally awake, grabs hold of his arm and hauls him back into the tent.

“Lemme go! I didn’t take anything!” he scowls.

“Geez, he looks about six” Jay says.

“I’m _eight and a half_ ” the kid says furiously, “and I didn’t _do_ anything, so let me go!”

“Oooh, eight and a half. Clearly old enough to be wandering around out here alone in the middle of the night” Kai says, rolling his eyes. “What were you after, anyway?”

He glares at the three of them, and then drops his gaze to the ground. “… food” he mumbles.

“Didn’t quite catch that, sorry” Nya says.

“I was looking for food, _alright_ ” the kid snarls.

Kai rummages through his backpack and pulls out a couple of energy bars, and some dried fruit and beef strips. He hands them over to the kid.

“Here you go, kiddo. All you had to do was ask.”

The kid eyes them suspiciously, before ravenously tearing into the dried beef strips.

“So where are you from, anyhow? You’re definitely not old enough to be journeying on your own yet. Where’s your parents?” Jay asks him.

The kid, now scarfing down handfuls of the dried fruit, doesn’t reply.

“Whoah, slow down. You’re gonna get a stomach ache if you keep eating like that” Kai says, passing him a canteen. The kid grabs it and gulps the water down eagerly, then shoves the energy bars into his pocket and stands up.

“Thank you for the food” he says stiffly, before calling his Zubat back into its Pokéball.

“Hold up, kiddo, don’t think we’re going to just let you wander off again alone” Kai says.

The kid sniffs disdainfully. “I’m not alone. I’m with my friends. And if you try to keep me here, Pythor and the others are gonna _get_ you.” And with that, he turns and strides off into the darkness.

Kai stares after him. “The _hell_ ” he says, “was that about?”

“Dunno” Jay replies. “You think we should go after him?”

“He’d probably just bolt as soon as he saw us” Nya says. “Let’s just hope he really is with his friends, or whatever.”

The three of them settle back down to try and salvage their remaining hours of sleep, but it feels like no time at all before the sun rises and they’re back on the road.


End file.
